At NetBurner we do our best to deliver a turnkey experience that is easy, fast and as seamless as possible. Yet, there are times when you need to sharpen your sword and drive into battle against hordes of… Bugs! This doesn’t happen in most simple out of the box applications; however, one of the advantages with NetBurner is that we enable cavalier and experienced engineers to develop and tailor the embedded software to get customized functionality. This can sometimes introduce some less predictable and difficult-to-eradicate bugs, gremlins, goblins or demons. In this sequel, we’ll pick up with a few more techniques that will further train and empower you to recognize and exterminate those digital foes like a true warrior. If you missed the first part of this article you can catch up here.

Enabling NetBurner’s Built-in Secure Serial Capability

Let’s be honest, if you had a “kick me” sign taped to your back, you’d want someone to tell you it was there, right? Well, today we’re here to do you a solid and give you the lowdown on a feature that’s already built into your NetBurner Serial-to-Ethernet (S2E) device. Something that adds that extra layer of security and lets you walk the halls with ease.

There is nothing more frustrating than having a problem and feeling helpless while some oracle on the other end of a nebulous contact form decides your fate. In the ideal world you would be able to solve your own problems without ever needing outside help, right? Our goal at NetBurner is to make the product in such a way that you rarely need support; not because we don’t want to help you, but to get you farther, faster. We still have a way to go and that’s why we take pride in the quality of our support, blog posts and community forums to fill those remaining gaps.

These days, special consideration into the security of your internet accessible devices is a must. The proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) has provided a multitude of opportunities to hackers. Installing an SSL certificate on your IoT devices is a terrific way to protect your data and IoT from attack. Not all IoT needs to be secured but for systems that are accessible via internet, rather than just a local area network, it’s a good precaution for preventing data breaches and malware infections.

In this article, we will make a WebSockets dashboard application that provides real-time monitoring AND control of a NetBurner Core Module from a web browser. Previously in Part 1, we discussed the benefits of using WebSockets and demonstrated how to make a WebSockets application to remotely monitor the state of DIP switches on a NetBurner Core Module Development Kit. Next, we will build on the same example to show how we can also control the NetBurner Dev Kit’s integrated LED array in real-time from a browser using WebSockets.

Have you ever wanted to display your real-time sensor data on a webpage that can be viewed on any device with a modern web browser? How about a web page that serves as a dashboard for controlling and monitoring your embedded device in real-time? With WebSockets, you can do exactly that! In this article, we will briefly review what a WebSocket is, how it works, its benefits, and dive into a system-monitoring, dashboard-type application tutorial.

Getting Started with Transport Layer Security for Your IoT and Connected Devices

The Internet of Things has become an increasingly popular and susceptible attack surface for hackers, leading to some scary incidents. Significant and ongoing data breaches and malware infections have been reported with Ethernet-enabled baby monitors, medical devices, cameras, refrigerators and automobiles, to name a few. [ 1, 2 ] In this article we will give a bit of understanding into the TLS protocol and its benefits for IoT and Ethernet-enabled systems. We’ll also get you going with a tutorial on how to test a TLS connection between a PC and a NetBurner Serial to Ethernet Device.

Imagine you have to deploy a dozen various devices throughout a factory floor. These consist of Linux PCs, low power embedded devices, a mobile phone app, simple sensors, and a remote database. Some devices are connected through Ethernet, while other more remote devices utilize a cell network to occasionally phone home. The problem you now have is, how do I get these devices communicating with each other in real time? MQTT is an ISO standard protocol used to solve this problem.

I2C: The Kindergarten Classroom of Protocols

Have you ever found yourself daydreaming idly, “If only there was something out there that allowed me the luxury of having several ‘masters’ communicate to several ‘slaves’ on a single embedded device… BUT -- with only two wires?” If so, then prepare to have your dreams come true! What we are going to look at today is a protocol and bus all rolled together called I2C, or more formally, Inter-Integrated Circuit. It’s a handy toolset to understand and have at your disposal as it is utilized in a wide variety of embedded platforms, data acquisition systems, components and sensors. That’s also why we at NetBurner include I2C in most of our embedded Ethernet web servers (core modules) and serial to Ethernet servers, along with an easy to use API – so let us show you how to get the most out of that technology including a code example at the end of the article!

In this article, we’ll explain Serial Tunneling and how this powerful capability uses Ethernet to connect two or more separated serial end-points. We’ll also introduce you to our products that are designed to easily deliver this capability and get you burnin’ some proverbial rubber with minimal effort.

Handling serial data streams is our bread and butter. In a majority of cases, NetBurner’s serial device platforms are ready for your Serial-to-Ethernet applications right out-of-the-box; however, in applications that require precision serial data timing, additional processing may be needed. In this article, we’ll show you an implementation of callback functions to handle these scenarios.

Ever see an LED light strip and think to yourself, "Man, if only I had a device that would let me remotely control that from my mobile phone or computer." Well friend, I'm here to tell you that your dream can soon become a reality. With NetBurner's MOD54415 or MOD54417 development kits, you can have a remote controlled LED light strip in a little over an hour. To see just how this is accomplished, follow the guide below.

Last week Sparkfun Electronics announced a new, open source cloud server application called Phant. Phant acts as a logging tool which allows any device to read and write data to and from the service. Additionally, Sparkfun also created data.sparkfun.com, which is a free service running phant. This service allows anyone to save up to 50MB worth of data to the cloud, allowing 100 pushes over 15 minutes, which averages out to a push every 10 seconds or so.

To send data to and from the service, you just need to register a new stream. Registering gives you a private key and public key for accessing the data. A private key is required to update that stream, while a public key grants access to any other stream on the service.

In this video watch a live coding session on how to connect to a TSL2561 light meter via I2C, dump that data to serial, and then send the reading to the cloud. Also, don't forget to check out the new Internet of Things (IoT) Cloud Kit!

In modern times, everyone carries a powerful computer in their pocket. Smart phone technology gives your eyes and fingers an easy way to manipulate data. This intuitive interface is not restricted to your smart phone. Touch screen displays are also available for your own embedded creations. A touchscreen and display allows the device to be controlled and used without a PC interface.

Power over Ethernet (PoE) applications can vary widely with regard to product design requirements. NetBurner module versions with a 10-pin male header in place of the RJ-45 Ethernet jack can be used in conjunction with a PoE power supply module to create a PoE end product. This article will provide a design example of PoE using the SB70LC-200IR and SBL2E-200IR modules.